


Like a Griffin From the Ashes

by KaranSeraph



Series: It Came From Season Four [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Dumb Muscle, F/M, Lost in Translation, M/M, Mistaken Mythology, Person of Mass Destruction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 10:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2769980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaranSeraph/pseuds/KaranSeraph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the wake of Megatron's failed attempt to destroy Sumdac Tower - and Starscream's attempt to blow up Detroit - a sole, cloned Omega Sentinel lay broken on Dinobot Island.  As Team Optimus returns triumphant to Cybertron, the island's motley assortment of misfit bots team-up under new management to salvage the behemoth. </p><p>Can anyone can hope to control the giant after it was cloned, installed with incomplete security codes, operated by remote, hacked by Starscream, and damaged by the Magnus Hammer?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Griffin Is Catchier

**Author's Note:**

> The story takes place during the theoretical Season Four of Transformers Animated. 
> 
> It is also a sequel to For a Few Upgrades More.

The Death's Head approached Detroit from the east, using the planet's rotation to minimize flight time. It still was a trek coming in with heavy cargo from Luna at sub-light. Lockdown wasn't one to risk the timey-whimey effects of repeated transwarp in planetary space; he'd leave space bridges and the like to maintenance crews and the science council.   
  
He began a descent through the troposphere, relying on mapping and instrumentation to align his craft with one of the more southerly freshwater bodies in the geo-political border region. Earth's current position in relation to Sol blurred visual distinction between solid ground and liquid reservoirs into one frozen white mass. An infrared overlay on the Death's Head view screen showed a bright bloom of heat in western Lake Erie which cracked satellite positioning software named North Sister Island.   
  
Everyone Lockdown knew called it Dinobot Island, even if the trio of dim beastformers were merely the tip of what ended up there.   
  
On his final approach, Lockdown spotted the latest of the island's misfits: a giant, purple clone of an Omega Sentinel sprawled against broken treeline and wreathed in halo of muddied construction zone. Between its feet and the beach a mismatched array of landing lights and hidden radio beacons marked the Death's Head's landing zone.   
  
Lockdown glanced to movement on the view screen as he put his ship into an automated landing sequence. Bots were about their work or otherwise distracted by his arrival. He saw figures in Constructicon acid green, Dinobot gray, sanitation worker orange, various sized black figures, and some new blue Seeker, but not the stocky, black rockstar or the teal Seeker Lockdown expected to meet him.  
  
"Hello, Hero~" Wreck-Gar sang as Lockdown strode down the ramp from the Death's Head.  
  
"Yeah, same to you." Neither the nickname nor the admiration that came with it sat too well with the bounty hunter, but was true enough he had saved the junk bot's life, or at least saved Prowl from unintentionally harvesting Wreck-Gar's AllSpark fragment with his Processor-over-Matter. He idly adjusted his poncho as he passed by.  
  
Lockdown stepped lightly over the tred-tracks and stabilizer prints in the frozen mud. There looked to be some collection of tarps, cables, and tree trunks that served as field office a ways up-slope, near the purple behemoth's left arm. Its gun appendage had been removed and inverted to support part of the makeshift workspace. A hacked-together system of Earth and Cybertronian tech - as well as a few charcoal sketches - displayed diagrams and technical plans for repair and improvements to the Omega Sentinel.   
  
Scrapper was seated on the ground weaving branches together, while Dirt Boss hovered unevenly on some kind of mobile repair bay. Lockdown could sense Wreck-Gar following; should probably have been proud of the fact he could sense spark energies, but he still wasn't really at peace with his own rediscovered Cyber-ninja potential.  
  
The blue Seeker alighted nearby and proceeded to pull a pair of swords on Lockdown. The Bounty hunter didn't so much as flinch, given the Starscream clone displayed absolutely no sign of training or skill with the blades. Besides, Lockdown could handle a Starscream - well, maybe except for that one. "Do not even think to apprehend my magnificent personage!" Oh, Lockdown realized: The Egomaniac.   
  
"Clearly a waste of my time to test my skills against a bot with such a novel sword grip," Lockdown drawled. He turned to view the technical specifications.  
  
"One of my infinite mastery needs no training of course!"   
  
"Except in dodging glue guns," Scrapper laughed.   
  
"That was all part of my plan!" Thundercracker shrieked, "I merely waited until the location was right to disperse the adhesive mixture with my sonic blasters! It was my own idea."   
  
"Anybot actually working on the...big bot?" Lockdown asked.   
  
"Griffin," Scrapper said, as he stood up.   
  
"The what?"  
  
"Like the creatures in Earth stories that _rise up_ from the ashes of defeat. Griffins," Scrapper explained, "It's catchier than Phi Supreme."  
  
"The state this wreck is in, we don't know if Megatron even gave it a designation," Dirt Boss said, "But your Commander said we're not calling it anything that sounds like Lugnut, Megatron, or Starscream."  
  
"She's not _my_ commander," Lockdown said quickly, as Thundercracker attempted to talk over him:   
  
"We should have called it Nu Supreme."  
  
Lockdown then realized the more important portion of the Constructicon's statement, "It's in that bad a shape?"   
  
"The big guy just needs some TLC~" Wreck-Gar said hopefully, which only made Lockdown suspect the situation was dire.  
  
"We can fix it," Scrapper promised, "Not sure about all these modifications, but we can do the restoration body work."  
  
Lockdown was no medi-bot or scientist - he had been programmed as a field tech, originally - but he knew modification. Some of the specifications displayed here disregarded structural integrity or energy distribution. Pit, he didn't know how they were supposed to add gun turrets to the legs without blocking access to half the shuttle bays. And asking for a Vanguard Booster package was rather like asking for the AllSpark itself. Took a city full of minicons to complete the specialized circuitry for something like that!   
  
"I don't suppose anyone has informed your chain-of-command."  
  
"The femme-bot is better seen than-" Dirt Boss started  
  
Thundercracker's swords wobbled toward the hovering Constructicon. "That is my sister, _Dirt Mouth_! She is a Decepticon Sub-Commander and due respect!"  
  
"What the Boss means to say," Scrapper hedged, optics wary as he looked toward Lockdown - did they think the Commander needed Lockdown to defend her? "Our client's criticism isn't very _constructive_."   
  
"Don't tell me Thundercracker here is afraid to deliver your reports."  
  
The egomaniac was offended as expected. "I am not the coward! I fear nothing from a fellow Seeker whose rank, beauty, and lethal skill are nearly a match for my own. I simply deemed it advisable to allow one of her _chosen companions_ to facilitate communication."  
  
Meaning, Thundercracker was probably afraid of the rockstar.  
  
"I'll see what I can do," Lockdown told them. He wasn't promising anything, but if he wasn't still on the outs over that 'you're my upgrade' line, he could probably get through to the flighty Seeker. And if not, he'd tell their third companion what was going on and let the musician translate. 


	2. Complications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of introspection and exposition on Griffin's condition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was listening to Anberlin when I planned and wrote this; mostly the Dark Is The Way, Light Is A Place album.
> 
> It made sense to have a Lockdown POV just because he's more on the outside and can do the audience stand-in thing to have things explained. But, I expect to change this with subsequent chapters.

Omega Sentinels were big. They were not as big as Titans were said to be, but given sentient, transforming cities were myth, Project Omega had produced the next best thing: living ships. This meant that the Sentinels had navigable interior space. Not just a cockpit or cabin to project your holomatter into in order to fool squishies; space enough for a typical bot to move around in.   
  
It took getting used to, especially as Lockdown wasn't accustomed to activating holomatter outside of alt mode and his Death's Head didn't convert. The behemoth of a bot was lying on its back and anything intended to be upright while it was ambulatory was now on its side.  
  
This included the bridge - which he supposed to be on a large gimble to keep the same space level when in flight mode - where he eventually found Slipstream and Soundwave. Lockdown climbed up from the rear doors, which were forced open by a jagged shard of what had once been part of big Decepticon symbol attached to the captain's chair. The particular texture of the edges said the defacement was intentional and recent, as opposed to battle damage.   
  
It took nanokliks for Lockdown's optics to cycle through modes and adjust to the combination of dying winter sunlight, blacklight, and cyan-backlit displays. When the pair of bots came into focus, he saw them perched together atop outside of the main control-wrap, all cozy-like with foreheads pressed together.   
  
"Missed me, huh?" Lockdown asked as he leapt up onto a wall then climbed its fixtures.  
  
"Permission," Soundwave toned. He was still disguising his voice, but his single word was loaded with meaning in present company. Sometimes it meant, "Take what you want," and other times it meant, "I will kick your aft." Lockdown guessed it meant, "Operation: join us," and continued his game of The Floor is Lava by jumping onto the captain's chair.   
  
Lockdown was assured he'd guessed right about Soundwave's intentions, when Slipstream turned away from them both. By the time he steadied his balance on the chair's swivel, her wings were to Soundwave and any available handhold Lockdown might have found was replaced by the Seeker's thigh. He couldn't help but chuckle at this, because in Slipstream's contrary way, she was inviting physical contact by pretending the opposite.   
  
Lockdown wrapped his hook beneath Slipstream's nearby leg and slid it up - down - her thigh till comparative size locked their parts in place. A smile flicked across her faceplate then was replaced by a more customary - and no doubt purposeful -  pout. "Aw, c'mon, Sweetspark, you know you love the hook."  
  
"Don't start!"  
  
Lockdown looked to Soundwave for guidance. Incomprehensible as Slipstream often was, Lockdown had thought he was getting a little better at understanding her. She was getting annoyingly good at reading him. Thing was, Soundwave could do it better than either of them. Literally. He detected and interpreted their electromagnetic emissions.   
  
No need for secret safewords if you had "permission", and Soundwave, except maybe if Soundwave was the one being hurt, but then, he could assume control any time he wanted and there wasn't much they could do about it. Sometimes Lockdown got a creepy feeling he'd already been controlled to not have disassembled the pair of 'Cons cycles ago, but the kid was all right.   
  
Except, when he wasn't. "Which one of you took down the big purple badge?"  
  
"Who do you think?" Slipstream snapped, meaning of course she had, while Soundwave said:  
  
"He puts that turbofox face on everything of his."  
  
"You know what I say." Lockdown didn't always understand why the kids continued to operate as Decepticons when they had such clear and obvious issues with Megatron and Starscream, but usually if he argued Slipstream would rant about the true faction goals and how Megatron was distorting them, and that she and Soundwave were loyal to the _cause_ , not the leadership. Way Lockdown usually heard it Megatron _was_ the cause, but whatever, he wasn't one to talk about loyalty. "It's a good-lookin' face. Might over-the-top given there's another one painted on the doors. Like the mood lighting in here."  
  
"Could use some spots," Soundwave said. He was, as usual, on autotune, but Lockdown thought he sounded a litttle brighter. It was better to be off the topic of things Megatron had made in his image and talk about upgrades, like lighting. It was an interest Soundwave shared with Lockdown, and much as Lockdown was sincerely trying not to let the mods get out of control - "It's the ninja-bot, not the weapon" - he really wanted to work on the Omega Sentinel with Soundwave.   
  
"Yeah. I brought a load of scrap from Luna. So...how _is_ Griffin?"  
  
"Who?" Slipstream asked.  
  
"The big guy. Phi Supreme? Scrapper said he's codenamed Griffin, 'cause he'll _rise up_."  
  
Slipstream sighed over-dramatically at that.  
  
"Word association: flawed."  
  
"That's it! We're not letting Scrapper name any more things!"  
  
"Snarl: almost named Slag."  
  
"Tell me about it!"  
  
Lockdown chuckled again, mostly because he liked seeing his 'Cons angry. It suited them. Robot rights wasn't Lockdown's cause, but the passion sure looked good on these two. Sure they'd been cozy when he entered the bridge, but it had seemed a melencholy coziness, the more he thought about it.   
  
"You know you had the crew afraid to come in here and report? Didn't think that was your leadership style."  
  
"What? Was there more bad news?"  
  
"Didn't know there was bad news to begin with," Lockdown promised, "they can do all the body work, within reason. Even I'm not sure you can pull off mods like leg-guns and vanguard boosters."  
  
"Oh! I can tell you talked to Scrapper!" Slipstream ranted.  
  
Soundwave played a recording of Scrapper's voice: "Adding gun turrets to the legs will block access to shuttle bays."  
  
"He's right," Lockdown insisted.  
  
"But we don't need shuttles, much less shuttle _bays_ , if we have a squad of Seekers aboard! How many of them survived even _one_ battle with an Omega Sentinel?! The legs are a vulnerable point when abulatory. Therefore, leg-mounted gun turrets make sense. Our Sentinel isn't going to be an _Autobot_ ship. We don't need shuttles or bays or big bay doors. Just egress for fliers."  
  
"You gotta learn to explain yourself, Trix."  
  
"What? Didn't I just explain our whole strategy?"  
  
"Progress," Soundwave toned.   
  
"You know I love when you play hard to get." Lockdown touched his brow to Slipstream's thigh.   
  
"I know." She smiled for him. "You also love it when I don't." At that, Slipstream lifted her talons to threateningly caress his faceplate.   
  
"Evidence," Soundwave pointed out.  
  
What was he saying? "Vanguard boosters. You don't just order a module from a catalog. You'd need the mass of - at least a whole other Omega Sentinel. Plus, specialized labor. Not to mention a supply of liquid energon!"  
  
"Optimus left the mass of _two_ other Omega Sentinels strewn across Detroit, and we are acquainted with a member of the Public Sanitation Department that controls clean-up and barges."  
  
"We only need specialized information. I can control laborers," Soundwave added.    
  
They really had thought this out. "What's the bad news, then?"   
  
Slipstream flicked her talons across his neck spikes. Punishment for asking, Lockdown supposed.  
  
"Moral dilemma," Soundwave answered for the pair.   
  
"Griffin is...in stasis. He was online, briefly. We had to put him back under."  
  
"It's not the shell that's the problem," Lockdown said in understanding.  
  
"It seems that Megatron wasn't the only one who thought it best to keep super-powerful bots as _dim_ as possible. What the Autobots did amounts to a form of loyalty programming. Soundwave can probably figure it out."  
  
"Omega Sentinels: Never intended to function without specific bonded controller."  
  
Lockdown wasn't the most sensitive mech, but he'd spent time with these two companions aboard the Death's Head, so, he understood why this mattered. Slipstream was mad, because Starscream had cloned her as one of a mass produced line of expendable clones. Soundwave was mad because Megatron had built his body for some purposes of his own which had not included Soundwave gaining sentience, then arranged for him to serve as Sari Sumdac's toy and entertainment. "Better one of you than somebot else." It was the best Lockdown could come up with.  
  
"Complicated," Soundwave said.  
  
"Starscream already hacked-up the programming for his stupid bomb scheme! And don't _even_ suggest I go to him for help!"  
  
Wait- what? "He's _alive_?"  
  
Slipstream drew her sharp digits from Lockdown, and brought her arms in close, toward her canopy. "He might have been revived with a spare AllSpark fragment. Not that I needed him or _felt_ anything. Just- we're even now, so..."  
  
"Slipstream," Lockdown sighed. Not much else he could say. She was smart, so she had to know Starscream would probably make her regret it.  
  
"It's OK. It just means, well..."  
  
"Stabilizing programming: long process. Slipstream: needs to be her most Starscream. Possibility of establishing new functional controller bond: uncertain." 


End file.
